FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 2005
OPSEU warns of Labour
Day delays at Windsor bridge:
Duty Free Shop refuses to bargain
WINDSOR: The Ontario Public
Service Employees Union warns there could be picket signs and
possible delays greeting travelers at the Ambassador Bridge
this Labour Day weekend due to a labour dispute at the
Canadian-side’s Duty-Free Shop.
All talks are off between OPSEU
and the private U.S. company that owns the bridge and
duty-free shops, after the employer refused to make a
counter-proposal at a scheduled Aug. 27 bargaining date.
Union members will be off the
job Sept. 2 if the employer does not return to the table with
an improved offer. All shop employees are University of
Windsor students earning less than $10 per hour. Currently,
individual contracts limit each employee to a one year work
term.
“We’re warning anyone planning
on crossing the border on Labour Day weekend that they should
think about alternative crossing points,” says OPSEU President
Leah Casselman. “The Ambassador Bridge is a license to print
money, but the owner evidently wants to treat these students
as disposable workers.”
Recently, in a large turnout,
the roughly 50 shop staff voted 100 per cent to give their
bargaining team a strike mandate. The length of the collective
agreement itself, and wages, are also major issues for the
union. Workers have faced a wage freeze for the past two
years.
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For further information:
David Loney, OPSEU
Negotiator, 647-285-7763
David Cox, OPSEU
Communications, 1-800-268-7376
